How To Stay Calm When Life Is Throwing More Than Lemons At You.

How To Stay Calm When Life Is Throwing More Than Lemons At You.

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Stress is a normal part of modern life, but if you’re often faced with stressful situations and feel panicked or overwhelmed trying to deal with them, you may benefit from learning some coping strategies that can help you to stay calm.

Pressure can put the body into “fight or flight” mode – an evolutionary tactic that releases hormones designed to get you ready to either fight or run from danger. In modern times, stress triggers these hormones but they’re not so helpful when the “danger” comes from issues at work or stresses at home rather than being faced with a wild feral animal. 

If you frequently find yourself feeling panicked or anxious or that life is throwing you way too many lemons for your liking, your fight or flight mode is probably being triggered and it’s helpful to learn how to calm yourself down when you’re entering this state.

1. Take a Deep Breath

Breathing deeply and slowly triggers the body to stop releasing stress hormones and start to relax. Concentrating on your breathing can also help to distract your mind from whatever is bothering you so that you focus only on what is happening at that moment.

Breathe in deeply through your nose – you should breathe all the way into your belly and not just your chest. Hold for a moment and breathe out slowly through your mouth. Take a few minutes just to breathe and you should find yourself feeling calmer quickly.

2. Focus on the Positives

Always imagining the worst case in every scenario is clinically known as catastrophic thinking and can increase anxiety and feelings of panic.

Rather than dwelling on negative aspects or outcomes, try to spend a few moments thinking positively. If your bathroom has flooded and you have to replace all the flooring, for example, this could be a very stressful situation. Yet try to focus on the fact that it gives you the opportunity to update and renovate, and the repairs should be covered by your insurance.

Staying positive allows your brain to avoid stress and stay calm.

3. Get Plenty of Sleep

Everything seems worse when you’ve haven’t had a good night’s sleep. Stress and anxiety can often lead to insomnia so you end up in a vicious cycle – not being able to sleep and then feeling worse because you haven’t had enough sleep.

Make sleep a priority, especially if you’re under a lot of pressure. Go to bed early and ban electronic devices from the bedroom. Lavender essential oil can also promote feelings of calm and help you to sleep at night. I’m not a fan but lavender has been proven to work tremendously.

4. Go for a walk

Exercise is just as important as sleep when it comes to keeping stress in check and dealing with external pressure. Exercise prompts the body to release feel-good hormones and helps to clear your head.

If you’re under pressure at work, just five minutes of fresh air and a change of scenery could help you to feel calmer and gain a new perspective on the situation – you’ll probably realise it’s not a case of life or death anyway.

5. Practice Gratitude

Staying grateful for everything you have in your life – no matter how small – can keep things in perspective and help you to maintain a positive attitude.

Studies have shown that people who keep a daily gratitude journal have lower levels of cortisol – the hormone responsible for stress. Try taking a few minutes at the end of each day to write down 5 things you feel thankful for and see how much better it makes you feel.

6. Surround yourself with positive people

You probably have a few people in your life who can make you feel stressed just by being around them. While it’s not always possible to cut these people out of your life entirely, when you’re under pressure try to spend more time with friends and family who are helpful, positive, and will lift you up rather than drag you down

7. Throw the lemons back where they came from

Sometimes it just has to be done. If someone keeps throwing lemons such as unnecessary issues or problems your way with the intent of triggering you (unfortunately these people do exist) just chuck them back and say no thanks, that’s your lemon (sh*t/problem) to deal with so stop making yourself busy and worry about your own business instead of sending them my way. Ta x

And if all else fails, then I guess it’s OK to just physically throw lemons to release stress… meh.

Either way, you got this!

Stay safe, gratitude is a must and take care,

Sammi xx

Tribute to Jamal Edwards MBE, SBTV founder and music entrepreneur 

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